First Steps

Posted on Sun Oct 11th, 2009 @ 2:01am by Lieutenant Chihiro Ogino MD & Captain Benjamin Byrne

Mission: They Arrive on Tuesday...
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD05 1000hrs

The little shuttle glided peacefully through the blackness of space. Slowly it curved and banked towards one of the large spacedocks orbiting Earth. Chihiro Ogino sat at the helm of the shuttle guiding it slowly towards the brand new Sovereign Class ship. A girl sat in the seat next to her, staring out of the window and leaning on the deactivated console infront of her, she looked worried or some could even say upset.

"Don't worry Hikari dear, you'll make new friends on the Endeavour" Chihiro told her daughter nicely as the shuttle approached the main shuttlebay. The shadowing roof overcame the craft as it penetrated the forcefield and with a slight bump landed on the deck.

"We're here" Chihiro said with a smile, pulling herself up and towards the aft section to open the hatch.

A few minutes later Chihiro was stood in a turbolift making sure she looked good for her first meeting with the captain. Hikari stood next to her, studying the MSD display on the turbolift wall. The doors swished open and Chihiro found herself looking at a busy bridge, obviously the engineers were still getting systems online and checked.

Recognising the Sovereign class bridge layout she made her way to the doors which we unmistakeably the captains read room to report on board.

"Mummy" Hikari said as she left the turbolift. Chihiro spun around, how could she forget about her daughter!

"Oh come on, but be quiet and stay out of the way" Chihiro ordered as she extended a hand for her to hold. Hikari took it and Chihiro led the way through the packed bridge towards the ready room. She rang the bell, and waited for a response. Maybe she could get Hikari to wait outside while she got her assignments.

"Come!" Benjamin called. He didn't turn around, since he'd already had a fair number of visits from staff today bringing new systems in and online, and so instead he stood with his back to the door, infront of his window, reading the PADD in his hand.

Chihiro walked in, but just enough so that the doors wouldn't swish closed. "Lieutenant Ogino, reporting for duty sir" She said nicely, not noticing that the door hadn't closed and that Hikari was peeking around the corner of the open door to see the captain.

Ben looked around at the sound of the voice, not having expected the doctor to have arrived yet. "Ah, Lieutenant, welcome aboard!" he said, as he put his PADD down on his desk and moved over to greet her with a handshake.

Chihiro shook his hand "Thank you sir" she said nicely with a smile.

He smiled as he noticed the young girl standing behind the door frame. "Hello there," he said, as he moved to the side of the Lieutenant and knelt down to the child's level. "And who might you be?"

Hikari looked shy, and turned slightly red at getting caught. "Hikari" she said nicely.

"Hello Hikari," Ben said warmly. "Is the Lieutenant here your mother?" he asked. He knew the answer anyway, but he'd learned from Jacob's friends that children liked to answer questions they knew the answer to. It made them feel smart. He indicated the doctor with his thumb anyway, incase the girl didn't understand ranks yet, though he suspected she did, having a Starfleet parent.

Hikari simply nodded, she started to feel slightly shy now. Chihiro watched and noticed that he was good with Children, she started to wonder if he had had experience with them. She also noticed that Hikari was acting shy, which wasn't like her at all.

"How old are you, Hikari?" Ben asked.

"Ten sir" Hikari said, she remembered that captains liked to be called sir.

"Hmm, well my boy's eight last month. Perhaps you'd like Miss Kitonuh over there to take you to play with him?" He indicated the Pacifican woman who was tapping at a few controls on the Operations console. "If it's alright with your mother, of course," he added, looking up at the doctor.

"Yes please" Hikari said with a smile, with a look over to her mum. Chihiro smiled at her "Go ahead, I'll come and pick you up later" She added.

"Ensign!" Benjamin called as he stood up, and the Pacifican officer walked over. "Could you take Miss Ogino here to find my son, please? You should find him in one of the Holodecks."

As the Ensign nodded, the water in her hydration suit over her gills sloshing slightly with the motion, Ben moved back to the other side of his ready room, allowing the doors to finally close.

"Sorry about that sir, I didn't realise she would get in the way" Chihiro apologised, looking down at the floor for a few seconds. "Its just we've been on board only five minutes and I didn't want to leave her alone..." she added

"It's OK, Lieutenant," Benjamin replied. "Kids will be kids. Just so long as you make sure that she's not going to be wandering in and affecting the crew's duties, or your own, during your shift."

"Yes sir, on the last ship we were on there was a school so it wasn't a problem" Chihiro explained.

"Yes, well I don't know if there will be a school or not on Endeavour yet," Ben replied, as he took a mug of coffee from the replicator and moved to sit behind his desk. "Even though I have a son of my own, I'm not sure whether I'd be quite happy with a ship full of children."

"Well sir, personally I don't mind them being around" Chihiro told him. "Back on Topic, do you have any specific assignments you wish for me to carry out?" She asked, suddenly remembering she was there for a reason.

"All the crew are new aboard, just like the ship is herself," Ben replied, all business. "I'll need you to start a series of physicals for all of them. Prioritise how you wish, but it needs to be done before we get our first assignment. I also want a report of your department's readiness on my desk at oh-nine-hundred tomorrow morning, and a copy sent to the XO."

"Yes sir, I'll have it done by then. And I'll start bringing the crew in this afternoon. May I ask you come down at your own leisure?" Chihiro asked, knowing that CO's had to set an example.

"I'll be down later today," he replied. Physicals were always something he'd tried to procrastinate about, but he could read between the lines in Chihiro's speech; she wanted him to set an example for the crew.

"Thank you sir. I'll be ready; can I get down there now?" She asked nicely wondering when he was going to dismiss her so she could go down and get the physical roster ready for the crew to begin this afternoon.

Benjamin nodded. "We have two sickbays onboard, so don't get lost," he said, though the way he said it made it unclear as to whether he was joking or not as he turned his attention back to the PADD infront of him.

"Yes sir, I'll try not to" Chihiro explained plainly. She took that as a sign of being dismissed and simply nodded and then retreated out of the door back onto the bridge. She knew sovereign class's well and began her journey to the primary sickbay where she could get to work.

----------------
Commander Benjamin Byrne
Commanding Officer
USS Endeavour NCC-86105

&

Lieutenant Chihiro Ogino
Chief Medical Officer
USS Endeavour NCC-86105